by Angela Blair

Created on: September 27, 2009

Employee attendees at trade shows are often the best sales/customer service representatives any company can choose. However, their success or failure rests squarely on the shoulders of the Trade Show Manager's thought, planning and decision making in the months prior to the show. Employee Attendees should be picked carefully and trained intensively. If there's no time to train them choose another alternative. It's grossly unfair to throw an untrained person into a public arena in a strange city and expect them to perform well.

If a trade show manager is fortunate enough to have day-to-day interaction with all company employees the task of choosing those to represent the company at trade shows is minimalized. The personable guy pulling orders in the warehouse may perform in a trade show booth much better than the stern secretary that can't wait to hit the road.

Ten good rules for choosing employee attendees for trade shows are: (1) tenure with the company and are loyal; (2) have in-depth knowledge of company history and business practices; (3) exhibit good product knowledge ; (4) have a can-do, hands-on attitude; (5) are personable/friendly and historically present well in employee/customer interaction; (6) welcome new assignments; (7) are healthy, available and willing to travel; (8) aren't easily flustered; (9) dress neatly and appropriately; and (10) can and will follow directions.

There are also traits to avoid when choosing employee attendees for trade shows. Some are character traits and others are ingrained habits: (1) Hypochondriacs - new weather, new food, new water and lots of new people are a perfect setting for this person to get sick; (2) Whiners - traveling and the road is hard at best without being burdened with someone that's always dissatisfied or unhappy and vocal about it; (3) the Lone Wolf - this person does it their way and is not a team player; (4) the Pessimist - nothing's going to turn out right no matter what and insists everyone in the crew hears about it; (5) the Houdini - disappears frequently, can't be found and ignores scheduling. Most probably the worst of all is the Antagonizer . This person constantly finds fault with fellow employees and customers to the point of being rude.

Trade shows are a big budget item for any company. It doesn't make sense to risk such an investment by involving even one amateur in the project. Companies who choose employee attendees wisely, train them properly and have established guidelines in place rarely show a red bottom line when it's time to pack up the show and go home!

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